


the 1000-year-old lion who climbed out the window and disappeared (for an afternoon)

by ladydawn



Category: TWRP | Tupper Ware Remix Party (Band)
Genre: Gen, cool record store guy?, lord phobos but in text form
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 07:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9538253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladydawn/pseuds/ladydawn
Summary: Commander Meouch doesn't feel super well so he goes out. What happens next will warm your heart.#6 will shock you.





	

Commander Meouch made a point to hardly ever, if never, let the boys know when he was lonely. At this point, with how long they’ve been together, he had become good at it. Sometimes it came in the form of practicing bass until the pads on his fingers felt like they were going to fall off (Doctor Sung admired his dedication), other times it was him listening privately to the 70’s record collection they had amassed over the years (Phobos liked that he seemed to find peace in that sometimes). Rarely did it ever amount to him actually leaving the house.

Yet we was walking to the cozy “village” near the downtown area. He had grabbed enough change from the communal change bowl by the door to make bus fare a couple times over, so he took the first bus that came to the stop.

The “village” was filled with little locally-owned shops and restaurants. He dipped for a second into an antique store and found that it was mostly used lamps, broken rotary telephones, and clothes not even his great-grandmama would wear. He smiled politely at the clerk behind the counter before walking out. It was too nostalgic for him.

There was a cute shop with a lot of Japanese and other imported stuff that Doc liked. It was an obnoxious pale green from the outside, the kind that made Meouch feel sick, but he still walked in to see if he could find a figure of this one huge robot that was made out of little tigers or lions or whatever from that show Doc liked. (Personally, Meouch could never get into it. Doc didn’t mind very much.)

He couldn’t find it. So he walked out again.

He found a coffee shop next, one that served big waffles and pastries along with its drinks. He went up and ordered a black coffee and a strawberry cream waffle. He sat down and opened his phone, expecting no notifications.

Instead there were tons from apps, replies and likes, and texts from his friends.

**From: Doc Snug**

(Meouch had accidentally put the N before the U but he never changed it.)

hey man i’m wondering where you are i came home and no one knows

**From: Doc Snug**

not that you’re not allowed to go out whenever you want i just wanted to make sure you’re okay and not dead in a ditch somewhere

Doctor Sung’s texting style was all lowercase and erratic, a stream of thought with no punctuation or capitalization due to the fact that he’d turned off those settings.

Despite himself and his loneliness, Meouch smiled a little fondly.

**To: Doc Snug**

I’m good, man. I just wanted to grab a bite to eat.

The response was nearly instant.

**From: Doc Snug**

ok thanks man we’ll see you when you get home phobs is gonna make that butternut squash bake everyone likes for dinner and we got blue cheese this time for you

The thought almost made him tear up. Almost. He took a sip of his coffee to suppress the impending choking up in his throat.

**To: Doc Snug**

Thanks pal. I’ll see you in a bit.

Doctor Sung replied with a thumbs up and a shooting star emoji. Meouch replied with his finger guns, which was really the pointing emoji followed by the sunglasses emoji followed by another pointing emoji. 

The server brought out his food. He thanked them kindly. He tucked into his food feeling a lot better than when he’d first stepped off that bus. Halfway through the waffle his phone buzzed again.

**From: phobos**

Hi buddy. I got you

Meouch didn’t want to be the man-lion to cry while eating a delicious waffle in a cafe but he almost couldn’t help it. He took another bite and had another sip of his coffee. He used a napkin to dab discreetly at his eyes.

**To: phobos**

Thanks pal. You know I got you

He finished the rest of his waffle and even though he’d tipped at the front, he left a good tip at the table. He got up and walked out after exchanging pleasantries with the person behind the counter.

He breathed in the fresh air and took in the wind blowing through the maples evenly spaced down the street. His feet felt a bit... lighter than before. He walked to the music store.

“Hey!” the owner called, a cool old man by the name of Hector, but call him Hex.

“Hey, Hex!” Meouch replied. “How you doing, man?”

“Eh, I’m alright, y’know? Week’s kinda hard sometimes but I got some good people that like to come through the store,” Hex said and tipped the brim of his flat cap toward Meouch. “How’re you?”

Meouch flashed a smile. “Same as you. It got kinda hard. But things are lookin’ up,” he replied honestly.

“Things will always look up!” Hex said jubilantly. “You could be at rock bottom but you can’t get any lower - you got no choice but to look up at one point.”

Meouch raised a brow. “What if I brought a pickaxe?” His tone was questioning but with a lilt of play.

Hex laughed loud. “Use it to help your ass climb the walls, not to dig lower,” he said.

Meouch laughed too - “Hex, I’m gonna go look at some stuff.” “Cool, man, cool!” - and found his way to the funk records. They were nothing they didn’t already have back home.

Hex was polishing his glasses when he walked over to Meouch. “I got something for you, man,” he said.

Meouch looked up. “Yeah?” he asked.

Hex gestured his head back toward the front counter and Meouch followed him. He waited while Hex made his way to the back, leaned on the counter and nodded at a customer who’d just walked in, and then Hex emerged with a bag. He slid out two records.

“Sly - _Higher!_ box set,” Hex said, tapping the front of the box. “And Mingus. _Ah Um._ Original pressing.”

Meouch’s chest constricted. “Holy shit,” he said.

“These came in and I put them aside. You’re one of the only... people I know who’d actually appreciate it and take care of them but also play the hell outta them,” Hex replied.

“I don’t know what to say.”

Hex watched as the customer who’d walked in walked back out, giving a wave and a “Come back soon!” before turning his attention back to Meouch.

“How about you just pay for Sly and I’ll give you Mingus on the house,” Hex said. “I know I missed your birthday. And Christmas.”

Meouch was silent for a beat before saying, “Well that’s not good for business.”

Hex shrugged. “Sure it ain’t. But I’m doing fine,” he said.

“So am I.” Meouch fished for his wallet. “Yeah, I’ll take them. Thank you, Hex.”

Meouch handed him the money. “It’s nothing. Thanks for coming in so much. You really make the days fly by, you know that?” Hex said.

Meouch took the bag from Hex. “You do too, my man. I’ll see you again soon,” he said.

“Oh, I know!” Hex paused and Meouch felt his eyes on his back. “Take care of yourself.”

Meouch looked back. “You too,” he said.

His stomach full, his heart full, his friends actually knowing his tells when he was lonely, he made his way back to the bus stop. He grabbed the first one home.

He leaned his head against the window and watched the trees and buildings go by. He pulled the cord before his stop and got off, thanking the driver.

The wind moved his mane slightly into his face but he didn’t mind. He walked home.

Doc was sitting at the kitchen table reading a book. He looked up when he saw Meouch enter. “Oh hey dude!” he said. “How was your jaunt?”

Meouch smiled and held up the record store bag. “It was good, buddy,” he said. “It was good.”

**Author's Note:**

> i sorta hc twrp as like the gems from steven universe.  
> they chill in their home and sometimes save the world.  
> it's chill.  
> thanks.


End file.
